Portrait of a Father
by SophieSaulie
Summary: A look at Danny as a father. For anyone who loves Daddy Danny.


**Portrait of a Father**

Dedicated to Faye Dartmouth, her husband and their new upcoming bundle of joy. This was inspired by her news. May it bring a smile to anyone who loves Daddy Danny.

_Come stop your crying_

_It will be all right_

_Just take my hand_

_Hold it tight_

_I will protect you_

_from all around you_

_I will be here_

_Don't you cry_

_- You'll be in my heart - Phil Collins_

Danny had been worried about becoming a father. It's not that he wasn't thrilled when Rachel had told him that they were going to have a baby, after all, he'd had a great childhood, the best mom ever and a father who he had wanted to be like to his own child, but he had worried that he wouldn't measure up. Then not only had he become a father, but he had become the father of a beautiful little girl.

That had changed everything.

He had never loved any thing or any one like he had loved his little girl, his Grace. Her name had come to him from the moment that he had laid his eyes on her because he had felt that her presence had given him a state of grace. He had asked Rachel what she had thought and she had loved it.

He knew then that he would protect her from everything and that he would die doing it. He knew that he would always be there for his little girl.

**505050**

Rachel had marveled at how wonderful a father Danny was. She knew he would make a good father. She may have hated that he had left everyday to put himself in danger as a cop, but she had seen and heard about his compassion towards people and especially children. When Grace had been born, she had watched him take care of her full of love and awe. He also had a gift for comforting her that she didn't possess. Whenever Grace would cry, short of being fed, Danny holding her, rocking her slowly and gently in his strong, enveloping arms was the only way she would be calmed and fall asleep. He would sing to her from Twinkle little Star to Everything I do by Bryan Adams. It had been their song. Now it had become Grace's and Rachel only loved it more when she had heard him sing it to her.

As Grace got older, Danny would let her put barrettes in his combed back hair when she had wanted to play dress up with him. It would make Rachel smile to watch Danny just laugh at the indignities that he would let Grace put him through just to make her smile. He would play tea party with her, pretend to drink tea and eat imaginary cookies and have conversations with her stuffed animals. He would do his best to get home every night so she would see him at dinner then he would tuck her in and read her bed time stories about princes and princesses until she fell asleep.

Rachel had giggled at Grace's first attempts at calling him daddy and trying to pronounce his first name. Danno was all that she could say and instead of correcting her, he had just adopted it as her special name for him and it had become his special way of telling her that he loved her.

"Remember, Danno loves you."

Then one night, he hadn't come home for dinner and Rachel had gotten the call every cop's wife dreaded. Danny had been shot and was in the hospital. She didn't know how to tell Grace so she had left her with a babysitter, but Grace had sensed something was wrong and had cried, asking for Danny, inconsolable. Rachel went to the hospital and luckily Danny had been okay. He had told her to bring Grace so he could reassure her. Remarkably, all it took was a smile from him and telling her that he loved her to calm Grace down. He had a magical way with her.

That night had spelled the beginning of the end of their marriage as Rachel began to crumble from the stresses of Danny's job as he got promoted to Detective, a reward for his bravery. It had meant longer hours, undercover work and more dangerous situations. Still, throughout their struggles, he had never stopped wanting to be a fully involved father to Grace. Even moving five thousand miles away with a new husband hadn't been far enough. She had underestimated Danny's willingness to give up everything for Grace. Danny had proven to Rachel that he would not be separated from his daughter, that he would leave the only home he had ever known to be near his little girl.

**505050**

When Steve had met Danny Williams, the first thing he had learned about him was that he was a devoted father, ascertaining that he had moved to Hawaii just to be with his daughter. He had also admired that while other cops would have just let Steve walk all over them, Danny had told him that he would not get killed for Steve's vendetta, that he had a daughter to consider. He then punched the point home when Steve refused to hear him. It was an instantaneous respect.

Steve had watched Danny's face and demeanor change whenever he had talked to or about his Grace, his very real concern over how she would view him if he had ever gotten himself killed. Steve saw two devotions waging war within Danny. He loved being a cop and Steve had seen first hand how good Danny was at his job. He had also seen what a loving father he was. So much so that Danny had reminded him of his own father and his devotion to his kids, the same conflict of safety and duty waging there in his father as well. He had tried to tell Danny that he had respected his own father for his sacrifices and that he was sure Grace would too, but he wasn't sure Danny was convinced of it.

He had seen the pain of his ex-wife's threats on Danny, the battle over custody, the arguments over picking Grace up, the danger that his job threatened and he thought that it had all been unfair. Danny was always putting Grace first, calling her to check up on her during the tsunami, always taking the time to talk to her no matter how busy he was. Every decision within his power to make, he made with Grace in mind. There was no more devoted father than Danny. Anyone could see that so how could his ex not see it and punish him with the only weapon that could truly damage Danny, denying him what little time he did have with his daughter. It was beyond Steve's understanding so he did his best to support his partner by intervening to make sure that Rachel would drop her custody suit by denying her husband the government approval he needed to build on the island. Danny was duly grateful and Steve felt the act was an easy call.

Grace was Danny's world and he couldn't imagine that little girl's life without Danny in it. So Steve pledged to himself that he would make sure that Grace would never have to face that as long as he was alive to prevent it because Danny's little daughter was now family. And you protected family at all costs.

**FIN. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.**


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